


In the Grove

by ThrillingDetectiveTales



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Found Family Feels, Gen, non-gender conforming Groot, nonbinary!Groot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 14:05:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11442432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThrillingDetectiveTales/pseuds/ThrillingDetectiveTales
Summary: Rocket plants some of Groot's splinters, and over time Groot grows, and remembers.





	In the Grove

**Author's Note:**

> I do a minifill thing [on Tumblr](http://thrillingest.tumblr.com) and someone asked to see 'Groot+ family.' This is my take on that.

They don’t remember everything, all at once. They are small, for a time, and sleep for hours, days, weeks, waking only on occasion when the hum of activity around them grows too loud or too quiet. The first thing they remember is the voice.

It speaks to them always, absently, as if it could not conceive of a time that they would not be there to listen, and listen they do, though for now they do not remember words, and cannot respond beyond swaying gently toward the sound in gentle encouragement to continue. The voice belongs to a creature with large, wet eyes and tiny, soft needles blanketing its being, and by the time their roots are sturdy enough to step free of the soil that has nourished them so long they recall that the creature is Rocket, and that Rocket is their dearest friend.

There are others, too, that take more time to return. When they are young, memory is a fickle thing, and they can only hold so much, but all of their stories are writ deep into the rings that circle for eternity inside of them and as they grow tall and strong, so too do their stories grow louder and clearer. The third thing they remember is dancing. They don’t recall the word for it, at first, but they hear music and they know that there is unspeakable joy in maneuvering their frame to twist and bend in time to the beats and drops and lifts.

There is a creature with long tendrils growing out of its head and a body the color of richest leaves, who treats them with tenderness and shows its teeth in the amiable manner of most bipedal humanoids anytime they seek its attention. Groot doesn’t have teeth, but the creature seems to like it when they spread their mouth wide in response.

Later, they remember that the creature is Gamora, and there is a short time where they are consumed by anger scorching down to their roots. Gamora took their limbs from them, brutally and without hesitation, but Gamora also treats them with exceeding gentleness when they are small and brings them back little jars full of mineral-rich earth as gifts whenever their business necessitates that their group split, takes them to a quadrant where it may be too dangerous to travel in the company of small things.

There is a creature of grey-and-red who speaks brusquely and who Groot takes great delight in feigning stillness in front of, when it would seek to see them move. It’s colors don’t change so often as the creature called Gamora and the creature of softest beige that they remember after a time is called Quill, but prefers Star-Lord. The grey-and-red creature is Drax, and they are somewhat less fond of its presence for a time than the others but still they would break their bark and snap their vines for it should it require such.

There is a creature with creeping tendrils that reach and glow, who speaks with Groot as easily as Rocket does when it presses its soft-barked appendages against their surface. It is Mantis, and they learn that it is new, newer than they are in many ways, and they delight in learning alongside one another.

Only when they once again stand tall enough that they must make their presence smaller to enter certain rooms; when their voice reverberates deep and sonorous through all of the hollow spaces within them; when the full breadth of their knowledge is returned and all their rings ripple through them once more, only then do they remember ‘we.’ It has been many seasons since Groot last stood amongst a grove, and though this grove may not stand stationary on soft soil, may not twine their roots into thick and sturdy ropes in the manner to which Groot is most accustomed, still they are together, and together they grow.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
